School girls held protest march against the horrific gangrape in Ahmednagar near Mumbai.
Anger in Maharashtra over the gang-rape and murder of a 14-year-old last week radiated in Parliament today as politician Supriya Sule demanded tougher laws and police action. Shops and schools were shut today in the state as a mark of protest.
"Nothing has happened after repeated incidents. An extreme stand should be taken against rape. Women are scared of stepping out of their house," Ms Sule, a member of the opposition Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Maharashtra, said in the Lok Sabha.
The NCP had earlier targeted the state government in the assembly, calling the incident "more heinous than the Nirbhaya case."
The teenager was raped and tortured in Ahmednagar district, around 250 km from Mumbai, allegedly by three men who inflicted wounds all over her body and broke her limbs before strangling her.
Many schools in the Ahmednagar district report that the attendance of girls has fallen by "20-30 per cent" after the incident.
"I don't feel safe here anymore," said Sarita, a 20-year-old.
"At this rate, more parents will stop sending their girls to school. Girls have to travel through isolated spots to school, why is there no protection for them?" questioned Appasaheb Shinde, a member of Ahmednagar Teachers' Association.
The horrific attack has been compared to the gang-rape and torture of a young medical student in Delhi in 2012, which has come to be known as the "Nirbhaya case."
The Congress has demanded Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis' resignation on "moral grounds".
Mr Fadnavis told the state assembly that the accused have been arrested and the case will be heard in a fast-track court, with Ujjwal Nikam as the public prosecutor.